Top 20 Search Engine Alternatives Really Need of time? Well, when people talk about search engines, Google is the first thing that pops up in anyone’s mind. If you would ask someone to define a search engine, they would most probably reply with “Google.” And rightly so. Google enjoys 87% of the global market share in terms of search engines. The user-friendly interface, personalized user experience, speed, and result accuracy influences people’s minds when they think about a search engine.

The advantages that Google has to offer come at a price: User privacy. It is no secret that Google catalogs users’ browsing habits and shares this data with advertisers and other parties. For those that are not willing to trade privacy for convenience, or have other specific agendas, there is a range of top 20 search engines alternative that can offer a similar experience.

Top 20 Alternative Search Engines

The curated list comprises alternative search engines, some of which you may have heard of, and some that might be relatively new.

1. Bing 

Bing image search GUI is superior to its competitors and is also highly intuitive. Bing handles a large share of all search queries in the U.S. and outperforms Google in certain aspects. It offers a rewards program that allows users to collect points for each search. These points can be redeemed to Microsoft stores, an advantage that Bing offers to its users.

                                                        Logo by Bing as seen on the Website.

2. Yandex

More than 45% of internet users in Russia use Yandex. Other than Russia, Yandex is also used in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is considered a user-friendly search engine and offers various useful tools.

Logo by Yandex as seen on the Website.

3. CC Search

CC Search proves to be the best option for any copyright-free content. If one needs music for a video or an image for a blog post, they need not worry about plagiarized content, which has creators coming after you for plagiarizing their work. CC Search works in a simple, yet unique manner. After generating results from platforms like Flickr and Soundcloud, it displays results termed as Creative Commons Material.

                                                        Logo by Creative Commons as seen on the Website.

4. Yahoo!

Despite being considered as outdated, Yahoo is still the third most popular search engine in the world. One of the advantages of Yahoo is that it offers many tools other than search. These tools consist of online shopping, games, and news. It is also the default search engine of Firefox. Yahoo!’s integration with Yahoo Answers, Flickr, and Yahoo Finance leads to better image results and vast information about various topics.

                                                          Logo by Yahoo as seen on the Website.

5. Boardreader

For those interested in finding forums or message boards about a particular subject, a board reader is a perfect destination.

Boardreader queries its results from a range of online forums and message boards. A few keystrokes are all it takes to find the desired forum.

                                                          Logo by Boardreader as seen on the Website.

6. StartPage

Many users prefer Google search results over any other search engine but intend to keep their information private. For such users, StartPage is the optimum destination. It includes HTTPS support, a URL generator, and proxy service. The URL generator eliminates the need to collect cookies making them useful. StartPage encourages privacy when it remembers your settings.

                                                     Logo by StratPage as seen on the Website.

7. Ecosia

Ecosia is an environment-friendly search engine that looks to save the planet, one tree at a time. Surprisingly, every Google search contributes to CO2 creation. Ecosia uses its search engine generated revenues to plant trees and tackle this issue. It requires approximately 45 searches to plant a tree.

Logo by Ecosia as seen on the Website.

8. Qwant

Qwant, a privacy-based search engine, does not record searches or use personal details for advertising. It is a France-based, user-friendly search engine with an interface that categorizes search results into the web, news, social, and even music. The music section utilizes AI to discover new music and search for lyrics.

Logo by Qwant as seen on the Website.

 

9. Search Encrypt

To ensure that your searches remain private, Search Encrypt uses local encryption. It makes uses encryption methods such as AES-256 and Secure Sockets Layer encryption. Using its network of search partners, search encrypt derives results, and delivers the requested information. After a while, your searches expire, so Search Encrypt ensures your information remains private even if someone has local access to your PC.

                                                         Logo by Searchencrypt as seen on the Website.

10. SearX

SearX is a metasearch search engine that offers unbiased results from multiple sources to present a decentralized and free view of the internet. SearX has the option to customize it and host it on your server as your search engine. It is available for contributions and a source code review.

                                                                Logo by SearX as seen on the Website.

11. Ask

The simple question-and-answer format of Ask makes it very user-friendly and allows natural-language searches. It is helpful for those not accustomed to using search engines. FAQs related to the search terms are also displayed in the search results, which provide handy resources and helps further your search. Ask was earlier known as Ask Jeeves.

                                                             Logo by Ask as seen on the Website.

12. Swisscows

Among its many unique features, Swisscows puts itself forward as a family-friendly semantic search engine. It also ensures users’ privacy, never collects, tracks, or stores data. Swisscows uses artificial intelligence to accurately interpret a user’s context search. The accuracy with which Swisscows answers users’ questions is phenomenal.

                                                            Logo by Swisscows as seen on the Website.

13. Baidu

With over 70% of China’s internet market share, Baidu is China’s leading search engine. Despite being written in Mandarin, Baidu is strikingly similar to Google. Its design is also similar and monetized through ads. It makes use of rich snippets in search results, which is the Google equivalent of featured snippets. Baidu comes with multiple limitations and is heavily censored, with blocks on pro-democracy websites and certain images.

                                                              Logo by Baidu as seen on the Website.

14. Gibiru

According to Gibiru’s website, “Gibiru is the preferred Search Engine for patriots.” Gibiru claims its search results are derived from a modified Google algorithm, which enables users to attain their information without worrying about Google’s tracking.

                                                            Logo by Gibiru as seen on the Website.

15. OneSearch

OneSearch was launched in January 2020 by Verizon Media. It aimed mainly at users’ data privacy. It ensures unfiltered, unbiased search results, no sharing of personal data with advertisers, no storing of user search history, no cookie tracking, retargeting, or personal profiling, and encrypted search terms.

                                                        Logo by Onesearch as seen on the Website.

16. Wiki.com

Wiki.com uses multiple wikis on the internet to get its results. It is the go-to search engine for those who prefer community-led information that can be found on sites like Wikipedia.

Logo by Wiki.com as seen on the Website.

 

17. Twitter

During an emergency, Twitter is the optimum destination for real-time updates and is tough to beat as a real-time search engine. This will still take some catching up to do for Google’s algorithm, but as of now, nothing beats a viral Tweet.

            Logo by Twitter as seen on the Website.

 

18. Ekoru

By donating 60% of its monthly revenue to one of its many charities, Ekoru tackles the climate change threat. These charities range from climate change and reforestation to animal welfare and conservation. Ekoru uses renewable energy sources for its data centers and also stands by civil rights by not storing search-related or user data on its servers.

                                                              Logo by Ekoru as seen on the Website.

19. Quora

Despite Google getting better at answering complex questions, it will not be able to match the personal touch that Quora has to offer. Users can ask any question, and the Quora community will reply abundantly. It also offers users the option to choose from previously asked questions that are similar to their query.

                                                                 Logo by Quora as seen on the Website.

20. DuckDuckGo

Like Swisscows, DuckDuckGo does not store or collect personal data, allowing users to search without worrying about data leakage. DuckDuckGo is the go-to search engine for those who stress on keeping their information extremely private.

 

    Logo by DuckDuckGo as seen on the Website.

Conclusion

While this is just a picture of the available alternative search engines and their offerings, there are plenty more options. Based on whether users are looking for enhanced privacy, improved usability, or unbiased results, multiple search engines perform better than Google in many aspects.

Google is the most popular search engine, but it may not be the best choice for some people due to individualistic needs and user priorities. Regardless of whether one is concerned about privacy or wants to explore their options, many of these alternative search engines can provide a better experience.